


A Strange Meeting

by softoriginals



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Diamond & Pearl & Platinum | Pokemon Diamond Pearl Platinum Versions
Genre: Childhood Trauma, Shipwrecks, ampharos best boy, interpret for yourself how you want volkner and riley's relationship to be yo, oneshot for a halloween collab, spooky scary
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-12
Updated: 2019-11-12
Packaged: 2021-01-29 15:23:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21412393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/softoriginals/pseuds/softoriginals
Summary: Strange things happen on a night where Riley travels back to the Sinnoh mainland, which brings up painful memories of his childhood.
Relationships: Volkner/Riley
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	A Strange Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> This oneshot was a part of a collab together with Riley for a halloween event between some friends! Be sure to look at the art that accompanies this at her twitter shinotamashiART (and give her a follow too if you like her art as well ;) ). Thanks for working with me Riley, I had a blast!! And I hope you guys enjoy this as well!

The sky was pitch black, besides the full moon and stars that shined through the night like polished gemstones. Together they illuminated the vast sea of Sinnoh, making it glinster while waves peacefully continued their ways. The sound of the waves crashing gently against the ship was the only thing that broke the night’s silence.

Riley felt at peace like this, recognizing the familiarity of being surrounded by the sea. Years of training in caves and basically living on an island made him think fondly of the water and the darkness. The soft swaying as a result of the waves only completed the calming picture. He closed his eyes and took in the air. Even the salty smell was a welcome thing. 

Neither the Sinnoh mainland’s lights nor the lights of Iron Island were to be seen. Riley guessed he was halfway through his journey. He didn’t travel to the mainland much: he lived a pretty self-sustainable life on Iron Island. He had a home, his Lucario, challengers that kept him from being lonely and bored. He was happy this way.

But happiness wasn’t meant to last forever.

A layer of mist started to come up, appearing out of thin air. It thickened rapidly, while Riley stood frozen in place. He tried to think hard, but no logic could explain this amount of fog coming up. The waves got rougher and the ship started to rock more and more. Riley started to feel a little nauseous: he had never seen the sea turn this rough in an instance. The fog was slowly starting to feel suffocating, the thickening never stopped as any sight of his surroundings disappeared. 

That was when the piercing cries came through. The oh so familiar cry, of something Riley loved so dearly. The world, or whatever there was left to see in this situation, went blank when memories of that cursed day started repeating in his head. He was still a little kid, eight years old and thriving on the fact that he already owned a Pokémon. His very own Bronzor.

_ “No, please! Stop!” _

He could hear his own desperate cries as well. He remembered standing across a rogue Magmortar, no trainer in sight. No one there to help. Just him and his low-leveled Bronzor. 

_ “Don’t hurt my Pokémon, I’m begging you.” _

Pain flared up on his forehead. A shaky hand reached up, he felt hot everywhere. As if he was burning up. 

_ “No, no, NO!” _

He had jumped in front of his Bronzor that day, a foolish and futile attempt at saving his Pokémon from their sad fate. He had watched in fear as the Magmortar’s arm lighted up, the grin from its face never leaving. Then, the heat. The unbearable heat. The flames reached a part of his face, blighted him, before he got pulled away by his father who appeared right on time. 

The pain of the burn was nothing compared to his steel-type Pokémon being mercilessly assaulted. The pain of watching, helplessly, as he saw the life leaving Bronzor. It was too weak and flames were too powerful. His dear Bronzor was no more.

Even in the present day, the pain felt as real and piercing as the day the terrible accident had happened. It was as if he was reliving that day. But he wasn’t playing outside, his Bronzor wasn’t here and his dad had died a few years ago. Riley was on a ship, on the verge of wrecking, going to the Sinnoh mainland. 

The sound of the cries made way for the creaking of the ship. The increasing cracking noises were starting to get worrisome, but Riley couldn’t move. He only felt nauseating pain, on the verge of passing out. His knees met the wooden floor of his ship, but it didn’t hurt anymore. 

With one last deafening crack, the ship broke in two. 

The cold sea then swallowed Riley together with his pain. He didn’t feel anything, he didn’t feel water going into his body, he didn’t feel the sting of coldness or tasted the salt of the water. If this was his end, he’d accept it with open arms. It was his destiny, anyway, paying for not being able to save his Bronzor. 

He’d become one with the sea and the darkness that he loved. If this was his end, he’d be happy.

* * *

“Ampharos, hold on for a second.” 

Volkner, Sunyshore City’s Gym Leader, was abruptly awakened by the Pokémon of the Vista Lighthouse. He reckoned it was around 6 AM, only a little light had broken through his curtains when the alarm sounded. The alarm was another one of his projects that was a result of his boredom. The Ampharos would sound an alarm connected to Volkner’s house whenever something on the sea was off. Then, a live-feed of the sea would appear on his TV-screen. 

Though this time around, there was not much to be seen: just a very thick layer of fog. He felt a little spark of curiosity igniting. Usually, the alarm wouldn’t be sounded just for some fog. Still, it was better not to get his hopes up for something exciting. Exciting things rarely ever happened. 

Yet here he was, hurrying with Ampharos to the Sunyshore’s beach. It turned out the alarm wasn’t because of the fog, but because of a strange thing on the shore. At first, Volkner didn’t see more than just a dark blue dot around the shore, but when they neared, the dot turned out to be a hat. It was quite a recognizable hat: he swore he had seen it before, walking around the city or sailing away. He was about to pick it up and brush the sand off, when Ampharos called out to him again.

His head snapped up, now spotting what the situation was all about: a young man, lying in the sand and looking very pale. It looked like he was still breathing. Volkner let out a sigh of relief when he heard a low, groaning sound out of the man.

Volker dropped to his knees in the sand, turning the man over to the side. When he got a closer look at his face, he realized it was Riley: the man that practically lived at Iron Island, but visited the mainland from time to time with his ship. He remembered challenging him once, which turned out to be one of the very few interesting battles Volkner had ever had.

He quickly checked Riley’s pulse, just to be sure, before slowly trying to lift him up. “Ampharos, help me carry him to the lighthouse. We’ll warm him up there.”

And so the pair went: Volkner carried the upper body, Ampharos the legs. While rushing to the Vista Lighthouse, Volkner felt adrenaline rushing through his body. It wasn't a familiar feeling, his life had always been run by boredom and the longing of something exciting, something to remember. Maybe saving this man's life was what he needed, even if the feeling was just temporary. 

Volkner kicked open the door when they arrived, propping Riley up in a corner and then rushing to the maintenance closet, hoping to find some sort of blanket there. He was lucky, finding one muffled away in a corner together with some spare clothes. Sunyshore’s lifeguards kept things like these for cases where people who almost drowned. 

While heading back to Riley and during changing his clothes and warning him up, Volkner kept wondering how Riley was even alive and how there were no other signs of a shipwreck on the beach. Usually, there would be some parts of the ship washed up on the shore as well, but it was just Riley and his hat.

Deep in thought, Volkner watched Riley rest and regain color in his face while the Ampharos returned to his duties at the top of the lighthouse. 

It felt like hours had passed until Riley opened his eyes and started taking again. One of the first things he did was reaching up to touch the burn scar on his forehead. “B-Bronzor…”

His voice was scratchy and could barely be heard. The man who Volkner knew as calm and cool-headed looked traumatized and distraught. Volkner just couldn't help but worry. 

“Riley, are you alright?” Volkner laid a hand on Riley's shoulder. He couldn't shake the feeling that something really scary at the sea must've went down to make someone this stressed. “Do you remember what happened?”

Riley didn't look at Volkner as he stammered out words. Volkner had too try really hard to make sense out of them. “Was… traveling, to the mainland. Then… fog… so thick… I passed out, the ship broke…a storm…”

He then looked Volkner straight in the eye. His eyes were filled to the brim with terror. It sent shivers down Volkner’s spine.

“A shipwreck. I was in a shipwreck.”

It didn’t make sense. It didn’t make any sense at all. There were no signs that any of this was because of a shipwreck. The video feed never showed a ship and there was no wreckage at the shore. It was unexplainable, but Riley looked so sure. Volkner bit his lip and inhaled deeply.

“Riley… there was no ship.”


End file.
